Proud Canadian

AN IT HARM NONE DO WHAT YE WILL

E-mail:

What is a druid?

If I had to summarize what a Druid is in one sentence, the sentence might be:

"A Druid is a professional invigilator of living spiritual mysteries as expressed by Celtic cultural forms".

Druidism is the revival of the ancient Celtic religion which holds the Earth and the environment as sacred,
     and promotes a morality based on truth, honour, strength, and justice.

[email protected]

Did Druids practice ritual killing?

Utter nonsense.

Many historians believed that the ancient Druids performed human
      sacrifices. All of these references can be traced back to the writings of one
      individual, Julius Caesar. He may well have been prejudiced against the Celts
      because of their continual warfare with the Romans. In war, the enemy is routinely
      demonized. Some remains of executions have been found in the archeological
      record, but it is not obvious whether the victims were killed during religious rituals
      or to carry out the sentence of a court. There is one reference to human sacrifice
      in Celtic literature, but it appears to be a Christian forgery. The ancient Celts
      might have engaged in ritual killing; certainly other contemporary societies did.
      Modern Druids, of course, do not.

Why Druidism?

There are a number of good reasons for modern people to consider Druidism today. Some see it as a way to reconnect, or
"ground" themselves in history, or to improve their understanding of their origins and ancestors (if they are of Celtic descent).
Some are attracted by the relationship with the natural world that a Druid cultivates, or by the artistic, creative methods used to
build that relationship.